1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure pertains to a filter system for a washing machine of the vertical axis type.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In the agitation and scrubbing of articles in a home washing machine, particles of lint are developed from the fabrics being cleaned and become suspended in the wash liquid. Unless these lint particles are removed from the washing fluid adjacent the fabrics they will eventually be distributed throughout the washing load and attach themselves once again to the articles being laundered.
A wide variety of filter systems intended to deal with this lint problem are found in the prior art. For example, a number of references disclose filtering systems wherein wash liquid is circulated through the machine's agitator, and filter elements located on or within the agitator collect lint from the circulating liquid. Other references show filtering systems which utilize a pump to circulate wash liquid between the machine's receptacle and a filter remote from the receptacle. Still other prior art filter systems circulate wash liquid from the machine's tub to the basket and back to the tub while providing filtering means associated with a wall of the basket or in a region between the tub and the basket.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,352,130 discloses a filtering arrangement in an automatic washer wherein liquid is pumped from a tub to a clothes receptacle or basket by the pumping action of an agitator oscillating within the basket during the washing cycle. Liquid enters the basket from the tub through openings in the bottom of the basket, and liquid circulates from the basket to the tub through perforations in the basket sidewall. Filter elements mounted in the openings in the bottom of the basket collect the lint carried by liquid passing through the openings, and the lint thus collected is thrown off and carried to drain when the basket spins during the centrifuging mode of machine operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,939,305 discloses a filtering system in an automatic washer wherein a substantially imperforate tub includes flow passages formed along a sidewall thereof, and a vertically reciprocating agitator within the tub causes liquid in the tub to flow downwardly through said passages during a washing cycle. A filter box located in each of the passages includes a plurality of tines for collecting lint carried by liquid passing therethrough.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 2,943,474 and 3,246,837 each disclose different filter systems wherein a filter member in the form of a trough or saucer mounted in the tub of an automatic washer beneath a basket receives wash liquid from the basket during a washing cycle. The wash liquid passes from the basket through small openings in the bottom of the basket and collects in the filter member, with the liquid so collected passing through or overflowing the filter member into the tub to be pumped back to the basket. Foreign particles collected by the filter member are thrown outwardly into the tub during spin and thereafter pumped to drain.